curiousgirl's playground

Forget just using MySpace and Facebook to stalk your friends.

Imagine having your entire life tracked. When you eat, sleep, and pee. The “what, when, where, why, and how” (WWWWH) of everything: blogs, groceries, shoes, music, books, movies, magazines, jobs, homes, restaurants, clubs, organizations, churches, etc. Having every facet of your life recorded down somewhere. This is what Fred Wilson calls the “implicit web” or “myware.”

Fred gives many examples – online music, shopping, and paying bills – all of which get at using aggregated data of -all- consumers to empower an -individual- consumer, whether that is in discovering new items of interest or making better decisions. He even points out that consumers can ultimately achieve better prices too. Bottom line is that the consumer wins.

While Fred says this could be applied to “any activity you do on the web,” what if this were extended to all of daily life? One application is just everyday purchases: Starbucks, grocery store, etc. Would you change your spending habits if you knew how much you spent? In the past, I’ve tried tracking my spending for a month and was astonished by the results. Admittedly, I felt terribly guilty afterwards and spent less the following month. However, I was unable to keep up with this habit mainly because it became a) too time consuming and b) too sad ;p (Part of me just didn’t want to know. Ignorance is bliss.)

Here are some implications for individual consumers:

• Become more “efficient” and make better decisions. Where that is socially, financially, economically, etc. Aside from the issues of privacy, the one interesting question that comes to mind is: Do you know yourself or do you just THINK you know? As human beings, we are limited in memory. What if computers could know everything? Could we capture HUMAN THOUGHT? Would computers eventually know you better than you know yourself?
• Discover people “like” you with similar tastes, habits, and preferences. While some say that “opposites attract,” I learned in my Intro to Psychology class that people tend to be attracted to others who are similar to themselves. Perhaps this could ultimately lead to the possibility of more easily finding Mr. or Mrs. Right? .... Or perhaps I’m just hopeful ;p.
• Understand human beings. I’m interested in seeing the effect of the Internet and technology in the fields of biology and nanotechnology. There could be studies done to analyze the behavior of, say, cancer survivors to better make treatment recommendations for cancer patients. The same strategy can be applied to the pre-disease phase and studying the emergence of disease symptoms. Perhaps the next major technological revolution is in the biotechnology field with the question being: How can we prolong human life?

All this being said: How much would you pay to see your data? Do you dare to see the results?

technorati tags: implicit web, stalking, next technology revolution, technology, biotech, biology, biotechnology